The present invention relates to wireless power supply systems.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art shoe with an inductive power transfer coil located within the heel of the shoe. The coil receives wireless power that is used to provide energy to a battery within the shoe.
FIG. 2 shows a prior art extended range wireless power transfer system. Resonator coils (L2) and (L3) are used to increase the overall Q of the system, and extend the distance between (L1) and (L4) where power can still be transferred in an efficient manner.
Point of sale systems can generally include a series of shelving units that can hold products and associated signage. Point of sale systems have benefited from recent improvements in product packaging. Contemporary product packaging increasingly utilizes RFID labels as one aspect of inventory control, anti-counterfeiting and/or tamper-proofing measures. Product packaging can also serve more traditional functions, including providing a secure housing for a product while also displaying product specifications, compatibility information, power requirements, and hardware requirements.
Some known product packaging includes a secondary tank circuit for receiving wireless power. The secondary tank circuit is electrically coupled to one or more visual elements, speaker elements or both. The visual elements can include one or more LEDs, OLEDs, LCD displays and e-ink displays, and the speaker element can include an electrostatic speaker, for example. The secondary tank circuit can be formed on a printed label adhered to the product container.
Products utilizing wirelessly powered e-ink visual elements have been applied to cereal boxes. The display surface for a cereal box can each include only a portion of the original graphic, such that the entire graphic is proportioned to fit just entirely over the display surface on five boxes of cereal. In addition to resizing, the graphics can animate or illuminate, including the entire graphic or only portions thereof. Further, the e-ink graphics can be used to automatically reconfigure product packaging or signage to correspond to a sale or a season. Wirelessly powered product packaging can generate a visual output to promote or otherwise draw attention to a package or packages at the point of sale.